Hi, my name is Rylie Coe. I am eleven years old. My journey started when I was diagnosed with Arthritis at the young age of three. Before that, no one really knew what was wrong when I would cry of pain so often. My parents were clueless as to what was wrong, and tried everything under the sun to cure me. When nothing worked, they knew something had to be done.
I had always felt pain, but I always thought it was normal when in reality, it was really only my normal. After a long time of searching, we finally found a great doctor and it was only then we finally knew… I had Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). You would think living in Atlanta it would be easy to find a great doctor, but that was not the case! We had to travel 6 hours each way to see a specialist at Duke University. This required overnight trips, hotel rooms, and lots of missing school.
I was constantly put on medication, but worst of all were the methotrexate injections. Even though I had been dealing with injections my whole life, I could never deal with the pain. Medication was just as bad, I couldn’t swallow pills so I had to do liquids which tasted beyond awful! In fact, the whole medication taking process was so hard, many nights would usually end in tears. To this day I still have trouble taking medicine because of the trauma.
Although my Arthritis had started to calm down, there was a side effect. A UTI infection that didn’t go away. Despite doctors running a bunch of uncomfortable tests, no one could make it stop. Which led to a dangerous situation. Because JIA, like all arthritis, is an auto immune disease, combined with my inability to successfully take my medication, I became immune to antibiotics. It was a hot mess, but we didn’t know just how bad it was until we went to visit my Yia Yia (Greek for grandma) for an early Christmas visit.
That night in Charlotte, I was lying in bed and felt excruciating stomach pain. I screamed as my mom and Yia Yia barged in. With a very high fever, they rushed me to the emergency room where I was immediately hospitalized. Totally freaked out and hysterical, I had no idea what was wrong. Turns out, not curing the UTI led to something even worse, called C Diff. A nasty bacterial infection that if not treated, could be life threatening. I was really scared.
It felt like I was hospitalized forever, but it was really more like a week and a half. The worst part of it all was being stuck in a hospital room on my 6th birthday. I wanted to go home and celebrate with my family and have a good time, but nope, I was stuck in a hospital bed. The nurses and my family tried to make the best of it with gifts, balloons, cake, and ice cream. Finally things got better, and I was released shortly after. It was easily the worst time of my life.
Did you know you can have Arthritis in your eye? Me neither! But I do, and it hurts. More than once I had to take special eye drops, some even changed my eye color. Luckily I was much better with eye drops than oral medication. My latest relapse was just months ago. It took a month of daily eye drops to put the Uveitis back in remission.
Needless to say, I now have an awful fear of doctors, their offices, medication, needles, hospitals, and any pharmaceutical ads for Arthritis!
JIA took a huge toll on me, but now I try to use it as motivation, not fear. I may have been afraid then, but I’m not now. I look back and realize how important this journey is to my story and who I am. Yes. It was hard, and yes… I wasn’t easy to work with, but I got through it, and that’s all that really matters to me.
The most important thing that helped me was my family and their support, which in the end was all I ever needed. This documentary could be a really therapeutic way for me to share my story and help kids with Arthritis or any disease know they are not alone.
Rylie Coe is a professional actor residing in Atlanta, GA. Well-spoken, her work ethic is top-notch, takes direction well, and a total pro on set.
With professional experience performing lead and supporting roles in feature and short films, her natural talent, formal training, and passion for acting are quickly recognized by directors, scene partners, and production crew alike.
Rylie is always searching for her next project and available for theatrical, commercial, and voice-over work.